Police academy graduate follows in father’s footsteps

The career now spans two generations, as Tyler Marney is one of three graduates from the state police academy who will serve in local law enforcement departments.

Marney, 21, will work for the Portales Police Department. He is the son of Curry County Deputy Sheriff Dean Marney. The younger Marney said he chose a career in law enforcement because he has always looked up to his father.

“Ever since I was a little kid, he was a city officer (in Clovis),” he said. “I always wanted to be like him”.

There were ups and downs during the six-month training. The highs were the friendships he made.

His least favorite memory was getting “OCed.” Oleoresin Capsicum, or O.C., is better known as pepper spray. The spray, and the pain, tears, and temporary blindness that could come with it, are just standard academy training.

“They (instructors) try to take your weapon away and you have to do defensive tactics,” he said. “It’s interesting.”

Marney said he was taught to value citizen and officer safety while handling different situations and different people, and “how to please the people and the public and the community we work for.”

He plans to stay in Portales to make a career in law enforcement.

Dean Marney, said he is thrilled to have his footsteps followed.

“I’m ecstatic,” the elder Marney said. “I’m very proud of him for making it through the academy.”

Tyler Marney will be joined at the Portales Police Department by Chris McCasland, 24. The Tucumcari native, who won the driving award at the academy, said the most important thing he learned was the importance of a partner on the force.

A third graduate, Allen Perez of Roswell, has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, and will join the Roosevelt County Sheriff’s Office. Perez joked that the hardest part of the academy was rooming with Marney and McCasland.